I started off with a freeware blogging software called Serendipity, which I found (at the time) to be simple and fast. It was my first foray into this Web 2.0 thing, and a chance to learn managing Apache, PHP and MySQL on Linux. I didn’t think too much about it back then, entered a few of entries in the beginning, and then slacked off for a few months. Blogging didn’t really catch on with me until I started using WordPress. Part of the problem with Serendipity was the kludgey user interface. It was too cumbersome for me to type in my posts. With WordPress, using its slick UI, plugins support, and abundance selection of themes, I was hooked again. Now I’m actually enjoying the process of blogging.

Originally, I hoped these 4 things would hold up in order for me to continue blogging:

1. My commitment to enter new blog entries
2. This old AMD box to die on me
3. This Maxtor hard drive to die on me
4. Safe and stable internet connection
   

My commitment is still here. My old AMD Athlon 650Mhz has finally bit the dust last December. My internet connection hasn’t been rock solid with AT&T Yahoo DSL, but I manage to get around it without any additional cost. The old Maxtor hard drive got errors and took down the site last May, which I replaced with a Seagate SATA drive.

So now, after 2 years, my hopes and expectations are still the same. I am so glad I can continue to learn something new from this, engage my brain on a daily basis, and keep up-to-date with the latest technology trends. Also, my hope is that 10 years from now, my daughter will read my entries and learn from my experiences. Who knows, maybe it’ll make a good meal conversation starter, or material for her own blog entries.

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Two years of blogging!

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30 years ago – 1977 – I was in Grade 2. I don’t remember much at this age, except for the original Star Wars movie that my uncle “obtained” on VHS tape (or was it Betamax?). I watched this movie many many many times, even though the picture and sound quality were really bad. I also remembered the scene in the middle of the movie, where the Millennium Falcon approaching the death star, was gone. Since English was not my first language, I didn’t understand the conversation. I only watched the battle scenes, over and over again. My wife wondered why I had this slight obsession with Star Wars. This was the reason.

20 years ago – 1987 – I was graduating from high school. I remembered our prom night. With the advice from my best friend, I bought a tux. Of course, the tux didn’t fit any more and it was long gone. The prom was also my first “unofficial” date. We kept it strictly friendly, danced and talked all night. Hey, I was a shy geek back then. In 1987, I also remembered my first day in college, with the initiations, and a lot of yelling and drinking. College daze went downhill after that, but that was another story.

10 years ago – 1997 – I moved to San Francisco Bay Area. This was my biggest move of my life, leaving my comfort zone. Earlier, I stayed in my parent’s place in Toronto, so I didn’t have to pay rent. I had a decent job as a sysadmin. I had a lot friends, some I had known since high school. After a failed long-term relationship, I decided to pack my things and moved to United States to start over. Here in the US, I knew only of only one person and started to build a new network of friends since then. I hardly kept in touch with those friends now – distance has that effect on friendship.

In retrospect, those times were my milestones – life changing events that shaped my current life. I can’t say they’re all good, but it’s certainly not all bad. I am glad those years have a special meaning for me.

Special thanks to Mary Demuth and her inspirational blog that encouraged me to write this entry.

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

It’s that time of the year again

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